For millennia, humans have gazed up at the stars and wondered what it would be like to journey to them. And while sending astronauts beyond the solar system remains a distant dream, humanity has already launched five robotic probes that are on paths to interstellar space.
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In 1972, NASA hadn't even finished sending Apollo astronauts to the Moon yet when it started launching the first missions that would ultimately wind up in interstellar space. That wasn't the end goal though. Pioneer 10 and 11 were primarily intended to do humanity's first major reconnaisance of other planets in our solar system.
Not to change the topic here:
Centuries-old conjecture about formation of the solar system verified -- ScienceDaily
Using a limited set of mathematical equations, Worcester Polytechnic Institute mathematical sciences professor Mayer Humi said he has confirmed a 224-year-old math conjecture about the origins of our solar system, providing insights about the process that leads to the formation of solar systems across the universe.
"The science community is aware by now that there are thousands of solar systems in the galaxy. But what is not known is how these solar systems came into existence," said Humi. "And what I've done is show that the first step to the creation of a solar system is the emergence of rings around a protostar. So from that standpoint, I've been able to verify a conjecture that is more than two centuries old."
What could a space telescope just for solar system science do? | Space
To date, planetary scientists have built spacecraft and astrophysicists have built space telescopes. But the time has come to change that, some solar system researchers say.
Astrophysics space telescopes, particularly the venerable Hubble Space Telescope , have been vital tools for science right here in our solar system and far beyond. But there's only so much science you can do with a borrowed telescope, planetary scientists find, particularly with one as in-demand Hubble, for instance.
Remnants of an ancient asteroid shed new light on the early solar system | EurekAlert!
IMAGE: The light gray grain surrounded by the red dashed line is a phosphate mineral, whose U-Pb age was determined as 4.15 billion-year-old. (Meteorite's name: Juvinas) view more
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It was once thought that this period had a relatively sudden onset, but a research team at Hiroshima University and The University of Tokyo in Japan have found evidence that this bombardment period may have started much earlier, and decreased in intensity over time.
While you're here, how about this:
The Sky This Week from September 25 to October 2 | Astronomy.com
How to see Saturn, Jupiter, the moon together in the night sky | wtsp.com
Over the next several nights, look for the moon in the evening sky, and you'll also see Jupiter and Saturn, our solar system's two biggest planets.
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The moon is the second brightest thing in our sky, after the sun, but Jupiter and Saturn are pretty bright too. However, Jupiter outshines Saturn by nearly 15 times.
Jupiter is nearly twice as massive as all of the other planets combined. Saturn is still very bright and extremely unique, as it has thousands of rings around it made up of ice and rocks.
"Wobbling" --Black Hole the Size of Our Solar System Unveils Movie of the Observable
Home » Black Holes » “Wobbling” –Black Hole the Size of Our Solar System Unveils Movie of the Observable Universe
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The image marked the endpoint of years of work undertaken by a team of 200 scientists across 18 countries that drew on data collected by eight telescopes whose locations range from Hawaii to the South Pole, creating the equivalent of a lens the size of planet Earth that's 4,000 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope that captured light from the entire universe wrapping around the object in a nested series of rings.
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